Talented individuals are born,not made.Truly,this gift of Art from our God is amazing and worth treasured for now and beyond.

Being an artist by blood however,I,Renante Kuya Dubz Dublois ,a Butuanon Artist,believes in the wonders of life thus,I am continuously exploring,sharing and teaching my students and pupils to really like and indulge in arts.A simple touch to the children and youth is a joy forever.Indeed,I don't stop enhancing my God-given skill to all people who want to learn and grow.

Last August 29,2011 was another break given to me,an opportunity that gradually opens an authentic door of beauty and work, coupled with dedication,enthusiasm and dynamism in the realm of Artworks,proper management ( self discipline/personality enhancement or development),creativity and quality outputs.Modesty aside,this date was considered to be one of the happiest moments in my life,because,it was kuyadubz natal day at the same time the birth of the PINOY NA PINOY VISUAL ARTISTS (PNPVA),initiated by me and PNPVA BOT and officers.How wonderful was this gift from God,then,wasn't it?

From this time on,new friends came unexpectedly and I BELIEVE IN DESTINY,my plan worked on FB Group ,when Carmelita Legaspi and Ric Ico joined the force ,now brilliantly growing;then,the group is strong and known,not only on social networking but also,we had become closer friends,inviting many art enthusiasts to join the group so, to give the best of life.In fact,last December 2011,the 1st mini EB in a private area took place,meeting new friends and making all our dreams feasible and possible.

Thereby,that saga was the reason why a GRAND ART EXHIBITION was framed,which happened last February18,2012 @ECCA Gallery,Pasig City---  hopefully, will dominate the world of ARTS.Indeed, "BUY PINOY"(Business entity) helps our group,initiated by Madam Yolanda Cabuco-now in chargeof the group's treasury.Proudly then,PNPVA has an on going SEC registration for transparency and proffesional reasons.

--And so,may our endeavor last forever with divine intervention and believe of true colors harmonized with unity,humility and persistence.---

To God be the glory!

You probably wouldn’t want to have me as a neighbor. Sometimes in the middle of the afternoon, sometimes later at night, there I am, shooting off firecrackers in the name of art.

I grew up in a Taiwanese military neighborhood with my grandparents, who grew up in China and left during the war at the urging of their families. I graduated from an art school in Taiwan, where I learned to appreciate the art of my Chinese heritage, as well as modern work, especially pop art. More recently, I married an American who lives in Taiwan. She has given me another view of the world from a Western perspective.

While I have gotten my start as an artist in Taiwan, I hope to move on to a bigger, more international stage. The world is getting smaller every day, and cultures are blending together to form new ones. This is very evident in Taiwan, a country whose culture has been influenced for centuries by the Japanese, Chinese, and aboriginal peoples. It is important to preserve our own cultures, while embracing the inevitable changes taking place. I have always felt a deep connection to my Chinese heritage.
   
Firecrackers are an important part of Chinese culture. After famously inventing them, we’ve used them for so many things – to celebrate a wedding or welcome a new lunar year to chase away evil spirits, to mark a religious ceremony, of which there are many throughout Taiwan at different times.

It was at one such ceremony – at the company I was working for at the time - where I first noticed the ground where the fireworks had been set off. There was a spot where something had covered part of the ground. After it had been moved, it left a clear spot in the midst of all the burned marks on the street. It was there that I got the idea to use fireworks as ink and brush-- a kind of firecracker printmaking.
   
Developing the technique took some trial and error. With time I learned how to control the firecrackers, how to get the kind of burn marks on paper I was looking for – and how to isolate the parts I wanted to keep clear. During this process I also developed a deep appreciation for the chaotic aspect I could not control, which gives my firecracker paintings a certain uniqueness and wild beauty. At times the firecrackers burn all the way through the paper, leaving small holes that let light shine through.
   
I burn my work in the spirit of traditional Chinese ink paintings. My subjects are Chinese – traditional Chinese views of nature, Chinese mythological animals, Buddhas. But my style also remains firmly grounded in my love of pop art. I consider it a modern Chinese style. So while my medium and subjects remain traditionally Chinese, they are also a fresh perspective on a 5000-year-old culture.
   
But my neighbors must hate it.
     

See more of Lei Ti here.
 

Art is a valuable feature that enhances all our senses. It can be by the way we talk, the way we see, the way we admire things, the way we touch, the smell of things or emotions - overall it’s an infinite list of things. It’s a whole visual language so to speak. Art creates an identity. I’m not simply stating it as it’s the only statement that is true but we, as artists eventually draw down to creating our own identity with a style that we gradually develop over a period of time.

Speaking of an art identity or a style that we create, I had to find a way to understand my roots. A lot of the art I did depended on where I grew up. My family and I had moved in to quite a few countries. The culture that I came from is a pretty conservative, tight-knit community and at the same time extremely affectionate and a traditional society. My cultural root is of Indian origin. Wherever I lived, I made an effort to retain my Indian culture. It has influenced a lot in my art work. The more and more I paint, the more I use a touch of Indian-ness in my work.

Since childhood, I had always been interested in art. Art is by far, a freedom of expression for me. Whatever I see in real life, is interpreted and somewhat reflected on my canvas. Some artists, or even a non-artist, used to often ask me about my style of work and I found it amusing to answer that because I couldn’t specify a particular style for myself. My art subjects are so vivid - for instance, the subjects range from traditional sculptural pieces to modern works that have touch of some Indian roots to it. Some of these examples are shown below.

 Somehow it has been difficult to capture a particular style or a subject for myself and all of this contributes to my upbringing. I used to live in the Middle East earlier and often it has been a task to maintain the rich Asian culture that we have. Our Asian art is an art itself because we come from such diverse and a rich history background, which leaves us to explore. It can be from miniature Mughal art to Balinese type of architecture. All of this is like a tapestry to our rich Asian world. The beauty of our art is, there is a broad spectrum of things to study. Each type of an Asian art, for instance, Balinese art, or Chinese art, Indian art, Vietnamese art, etc etc, hold a history behind them. The rich intricacies of Mughal architectural monuments to studying fine details of Buddhist temples in Thailand, makes me to wonder as to what else lies beneath these valuable golden histories. The search of these studies continues for me as an artist. With so much history that is prominent, it makes me to be inter
ested to study the various type of art. Somehow I enjoy skipping from one style to another and overall exploring what truly describes my type of work. The question that always arises in my head is – just how to blend these types of Asian art together and overall create a commonality in all of this? It’s a type of question that always makes me to wonder and hence explore more.

Valuable artists like Monet, Picasso, Van-Gogh, Henri Matisse, and much more have all been noted for their own style of work. Me as a free artist, I’m still in the journey of discovering my style of work and so far it has been a fun-filling experience.

See more of Swati here.
 

SUPREMACY OF EVE

I celebrated my birthday last June. An occasion I decided to mark by coming out with this short narrative of my life. Don`t take the pompous title seriously, friends. I merely wanted to humor myself, to make me stand steadfast in my belief that what I`m doing with single-minded devotion for thirty years now is significant. Never mind if a very close relation consider me and my profession useless. But please read on- this piece is not an exercise in self-pity. On the contrary, hahaha...

I was born and raised in the slums of Tondo: at the so-called Tondo Foreshore, that bit of land that was originally sea. Despite the place`s notoriety as breeding-ground for would-be toughies, I will always remember my boyhood years with fondness. I had so much fun then romping about the flooded streets, trying to catch tadpoles and small fishes with improvised nets. Even the fistfights I engaged in with boyhood adversaries now seem to me like exciting fun-filled games. Despite being surrounded by a not-so good environment, we weren`t exactly destitute then like many of our neighbors, because my father, Edmundo, was already working overseas as a marine engineer.

Even before I started learning the alphabet, I was already teaching myself the rudiments of drawing. It was an innate obsession, a calling perhaps. When I was a kid, I never knew anyone who can draw, so nobody could have inspired or influenced me but I was already in to art.

I began working as a professional artist in 1981, when I got employed as political cartoonist for the newspaper, People`s Journal. At first, I did an editorial cartoon daily. But due perhaps to my rawness, I noticed as weeks went on that I`m being given fewer and fewer assignments. Since I`m being paid on a per piece basis, I thought it better to quit the job rather than go each day to the office with no assurance on income. After my short initial stint as political cartoonist, I decided to paint full-time after being inspired by a book on Dali. It was the declining years of the Marcos regime and many paintings being done and exhibited at that time were political in content. I rode the trend and painted social realist canvases, but with a surrealist twist. In 1984, I won the top prize in the First Metrobank Annual Painting Competition. It was a most prestigious competition then as it is at present. From then on, the saga of my art career began to flourish.

Please see Arnaldo's profile here.

 Samiran Sarkar is not the usual nature lover or typical nature tripper. He is the one who claims nature as his that will make him achieve his dreams by putting more colors to it. And he is the same one who has been honoured, recognized, and awarded in different parts of the globe by just merely exposing the brilliance of his landscape painting.

Nature is a common artist’s inspiration but as for Samiran, it is his teacher and he found the power of nature to be mysterious stimulating the creative minds of the genius. Despite being a wide traveller to expose his arts, he is still finds his home country, India, and its neighbors like Bhutan and Nepal to be close to nature which for him is the representation of heaven here on Earth.  Just like any other successful artist, he started painting during his childhood. But he realized watercolour painting is meant for him right after graduating from a prestigious art school in Kolkata, India. It is with watercolour that one can exude the best of artistic expression via art. It is the space, atmosphere, and light that Samiran finds as essential components of watercolour paintings and through creating various shades, he is able to project not just what the eyes can see but it is evident in his paintings that viewer can sense sound and scent in his works. And yes, this is how brilliant our featured artist is! In fact, too brilliant to receive international recognition like being awarded as Honorable Mention in Virginia International Art Show, GCCR Gallery, Richmond, Virginia in United States. His latest award, however, is receiving Outstanding Watercolor Award for Cityscape while being chosen, likewise, as a finalist for FineArtViews' BoldBrush Painting Competition Sponsored by FineArtStudio,(USA). This is just a few among so many other more achievementsand recognition and Artyii has never been this proud to have Mr.Samiran Sarkar onboard.

Despite his ongoing success, Samiran remains as humble just like how his successful fellow Asian artists are. And to the emerging ones, he wants to be remembered as an inspiration, as someone who is just a freelance artist who has crossed every impediment to just keep on going with his passion until he bumps to what others call “luck”. 
 

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Please click here to see Samiran's profile. 

I like Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. Listening to this song makes me like myself even more. I think I just like how God created me. I am grateful which makes me realize that I am blessed.  And with this realization arises my strong will to pursue my passion which is the arts—wall paintings, to be exact, where I see a beautiful reflection of me.

I have lived a very simple life as an ordinary girl since then which up to now, I choose to stay this way. As a graduate of Accounting Management, now I am happily working as an Executive Assistant to the Director in an Elevator Company in Jakarta. Yet, despite a shift of passion to a different practice and knowledge from school to work, I will never forget how I fell in love with drawing when I was a kid. But back then, I never thought that I’d be an artist until January of this year only when I received a set of painting tools and colours from my cousin as a present. From then on, my life changed to a certain degree that I did not expect.

I knew back then that I loved drawing but I never had formal education, neither exposure to fine arts, not to mention that I was ignorant of how to use oil as a medium.  What I did was to just let my hand work. I am not even sure until now if I was in control then or the brush just moved and my hand just followed. Funny, but that’s what I thought.  “You and Me”, how can I forget?  That‘s the outcome of my very first attempt to paint. So far, such attempt did not disappoint me but prompted me to move forward, instead.

Just recently, I found the beauty of splash arts when I was washing apples as the water ran down the fruit’s perfect skin from top to bottom. Moving forward, the sight inspired me to create “animal fruity” paintings series. Oh, nothing deep over the subjects. They are merely combination of animals and fruits as figures like my Kiwi Fish, for instance. My arts can be best described as expressive, fresh, naïve, and dreamy.  Arts make me more human. I feel more. I think more. I feel much more sensible, upbeat, happy and excited. And each day, I crave for new inspiration.

This is who I am with nothing much to say but a very promising member of Artyii which for I deem as a generous company that I see filled with love and indefatigable support to aspiring artists who want to make a name in the industry. Personally, I would like to thank Ms. Jocelyn Apple for showing me the right path to take which in an instant made me gain friends who are artists themselves. Some are just like me but many are pro who relentlessly give their support to emerging ones. For now, all I am looking forward to in the future is a chance to meet up with Artyii members whom I  know are Asian art’s best.

See Igna Zhuo's profile here.

“A successful artist is an artist that possesses a strong drive to push energy and motion to the limit to sustain work. Hardwork is my secret ingredient to succeed. My paintings that are deemed as dynamic and symbolic would want to inspire people to keep such ingredient to their hearts—Adung  Abdulgani

Energy and Motion—an inspiration!

Apparent in Adung  Abdulgani’s works is motion. There is energy that can be felt from just viewing his pieces. There is strength in his composition and there lies beneath a shout of optimism. This message is directed to the society where he grew up with which he found weak and poor. His rebellion from this negativity is made known through his wall paintings by making them exude positivity--- the ability to get up and draw away from ugly attributes that hamper the progress of the society.
 

Motion as Symbolic Language

Arts have functions. One of these which Adung’s art adheres to is art as being symbolic. For Adung Abdulgani, an artist becomes shallow if meaningless art is displayed in public which is the exact opposite of what Adung flaunts for public to enjoy and to get a beautiful message from. His works which show subjects in motion like “Siap Untuk Maju” which means ready for progress   and “Achieve for Love” are just to name two of his symbolic works which are meant to promote positivity in motion to the society where he is at and to humanity, in general.  To top it all, motion is Adung’s favourite subject which makes his art pieces filled with strength and meaning.

Motion as Aesthetics
 

Aside from being symbolic, Adung’s motion in his paintings embraces aesthetics. Evident in his art pieces is a beautiful woman dancing as a figure object of his masterpieces. Aside from the beauty of his subjects, high -technique, too, of painting is applied to craft his works in perfection. The strength of his paintings lies in a beautiful figure object in motion with application of various brush styles to achieve unquestionable beauty which his arts are widely known to exude.

 Click on Adung's profile here.

Carmen likes painting a lot aside from her fascination to singing. She knows very well that beauty is useless without talent.  And basing from this, we can tell how proud she is to be her. One day, a friend bought her art which made her realize on that very same day that when you put your heart to everything you do, nobody can just say no to you.

A beautiful and cool mom of her only child, Clark—a special child of 21 years old who shares her moms’s interest over art, Carmelita Legaspi is a proud mom who knew that if there is one thing that Clark got from her, it is nothing but her love for music. Clark always brings his bag with him. He puts his hands on his head when he wants something. His friend Rica who is a digital artist once told Carmen that putting his hands on top of his head is a sign of intelligence. She hopes so for her special child. Having a special child is a gift, she said, and an inspiration for her to pursue and treasure a happy and colorful life.

Artyii’s love, Carmen, is very intuitive, too, in her style . She just follows what her hands prompt her to do. She has confidence in her talent that she can do great in painterly paintings. For her, just let the brush take you to a meaningful story and by which is also patterned to what the heart dictates.

Let us now see what she prepared for her viewers. Enjoy her works. They are fantastic!

I never knew Vietnam art would be this stunning. I know that Asian art is brilliant yet I did not expect that there is one part of the continent that will stand out when it comes to wall paintings. One of these is Vu Dung's among others.

I am not sure what is with Vu Dung's art that made me visit his art collection from time to time when in fact compared to others, it is simple and when in fact, it can be less to those whose strokes are just crafted in perfection. We just don’t know but to people who exude something unexplainable beyond beauty, we use to call this as charisma, appeal, or better yet—x factor! But then again, that is applicable to human personality and we are not sure if with art, how else to term it! 

Vu dung is one of the newest artyii members who happened to make himself active right after he joined artyii which made his art caught my attention, not to mention that they are really pleasing to the eyes and left me with no choice but to display a few of his collection in the home page in a regular basis for two weeks. Count a few days more and there were art lovers and finally buyers who fell in love with his works. And in fact, out of his second buyer’s request named Hattie Shieh from the US, this article needs to be posted the soonest possible for her and for others to know Vu Dung more. Anyway, knowing him is not a challenge at all because despite language barrier, Vu Dung is a person who loves to communicate with people. Well, that is as per my observation only as he tries to catch me online from time to time he gets the chance…..peace, Vu Dung!

Anyway, let us start.

Vu Quoc Dung grew up with strong passion for drawing. He drew on wherever he can or whatever was at hand like his school textbooks which quite upset his teachers. While many young artists in Vietnam of his age were of critical realism, He chose a different way. Instead of criticizing things, he captured splendid moments and brought them into his pictures so that everybody can feel, enjoy and treasure the beauty of life and what surrounds it.

However, his interest on art was financially hindered – he could not even afford a single set of color waxes until such time that a friend of his father gave him one as a present. He used it all day long as he thought of making life from pictures. This financial hardship went on until college which almost pushed him away from his  dream. However, with a strong will to pursue, Vu Dung did whatever it took to overcome the situation and even kept his passion more alive.

Specialized in art pedagogy, he learned to use all painting materials. His preference, however, is oil paintings, which according to him easily transmit the emotion he feels from within--  thanks to their softness and purity! Living in a place like Ho Chi Minh City which is one of the biggest and busiest cities in Vietnam greatly influenced his art style. But then, he also found his emotion climaxed in a very quiet, clean and cold place, they call in Vietnam as Dalat.

What I draw really reflects who I am, how I feel and what I think about life. Playing with pencils, oil, & colors have always brought me peace and comfort. My emotion is best embedded in my art which makes my inner side exposed. And now, as an art teacher, I always focus on inspiring my students with what I learn along the way.  —Vu Quoc dung

See Vu dung's profile here.

Art has always been my refuge. Through art, I am able to express and share my interest in the esoteric. My fascination to it matched by my passion for art served as an impetus for bringing together other artists who share the same inspiration. – Prof. Juno Parungao

Influenced by the Stars

Since childhood I have been always drawn to Tarot cards, crystals and astrology and which to-date serve as my inspiration to indefatigably pursue the field of art. During the 80s, these interests were taboo, especially in Catholic schools where I was enrolled. Fortunately as time goes by, the abundance of books on tarot, crystals and astrology is overwhelming which gives me the courage to enjoy the freedom of loving the stars even more. The postmodern world now has room for people interested in the esoteric, speaking relatively of my local culture where prevalent faith discouraged astrology even as for entertainment purposes.

I do tarot/astrology readings by appointment. Tarot/Astrology sessions are therapeutic both for me and my clients. Although I am a university professor by profession, I still find time to appreciate and muse over patterns, colours and the stars. In fact, together with co-founder Ivan Basit, JIV Manila Art Collective was formed in 2008. My goal was to create meaningful art as JIV Manila stands for the ideology – Art for a Meaningful Life! JIV Manila had 8 successful art exhibits around Metro Manila. Our artworks were also featured in ANC’s Cityscapes with host Lexi Schulze.

Heavens- inspired Art

Now, aligning art with astrology even more, I serendipitously stumbled upon this fantastic idea of merging astrological charts with abstract art. With the support of Kitten Alcantara, a fellow astrologer, philanthropist and owner of Art Circle Gallery, my vision for Astrological Portraits became clear! Guided by the language of colour stipulated by Kandinsky and the semiotic application of astrological correspondences and planetary aspects, Astrological Portraits contain no facial features. However, the necessary details are the person’s birthday, birth time and place. If birth time is unknown, birthday and place will do. To create the portrait, the person’s details are used to compute the chart which reveals the planets’ positions at the time of birth. In other words, the astrological chart is a snapshot of the sky at the time a person is born. This is equivalent to reading the person’s essence of being.

The circle represents the being as a whole cradled by the painted background. The colours and the symbols are carefully selected and placed inside the circle which is the sacred space as one would call it when creating mandalas. The result is an artwork featuring colours, patterns, and symbols representing the dominant characteristics of the person, an art form of a person’s positive character traits. Each Astrological Portrait is named after the person who commissioned it and comes with a brief character reading making each portrait significantly personalized.  

Recent Success

Art Circle Gallery in UP Bahay ng Alumni launched my one-woman show entitled, “My Favorite Stars, a collection of Astrological Portraits” in May 2011. A total of twenty commissioned, pioneering artworks were showed! Mr. Heber Bartolome, musician and artist, was my guest of honor who did the ribbon-cutting.
 

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